Ready for the icebergs of life | Roger Rowland | Sunday 21st January

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Morning, everybody. [00:00:03] Speaker B: So nice to see you. [00:00:05] Speaker A: I love this church. Do you love your church? We need to love on each other. We. I love this church. I love being part of who we are. I love the people, I love the vision, I love where we're going. I just love being part of this church. I watched a documentary quite a little while ago. This isn't in my beach. This is just preamble. It was all about synchronized swimming. Do you know what synchronized swimming is? It's where they're in the swimming pool and they're doing all these gymnasticy things up above the water. And it looks fantastic when you're watching it. And then you see how hard they have to work under the water in order to do the stuff up above the water. I'd like us as a church to say thank you to all those this morning that have worked really hard under the water, in order that we have had what we've had this morning. Our worship team, our sound, our welcome, our ushers, our cleaners, those that have done the notices. Can we just say thank you to them? [00:01:09] Speaker B: They work so hard. [00:01:18] Speaker A: Jan and I had the privilege over Christmas, sorry, this is sort of jealousy time now for some of you, but Jan and I had the privilege over Christmas of going away on a cruise. And we didn't just go away on a cruise, we went to the Caribbean for Christmas. And I got to tell you, it was really sunny and it was really nice and it was really warm. Anyone want to come next year? Yeah. And we were on board the p. O. Ship Britannia. And as normal, when you go onto a cruise, any of you that have done this, you'll know this routine. For those that are about to try this for the first time, can I recommend it to you? But when you go on board, the first thing that ever happens when you go on board a cruise ship is they tell you where you need to go if the ship sinks. It's truth. It's the very first thing they ever tell you. They tell you where the lifeboats are, they tell you where you've got to go and get for your muster station, they tell you where your life jacket is. Why do they tell you all of that stuff? So that you can forget all about it and enjoy your holiday. That's why they tell you. And we never thought about it again. And to be honest, until I prepared this preach, I never thought about that again. In April 19, twelve, another cruise liner set sail. This time it set sail from Southampton and it was going on its maiden voyage to New York. The ship was magnificent. The atmosphere was celebratory. There were over 2000 people on board. It was the cutting edge of maritime design. And of course, we know the story because it was called the Titanic. On the 14 April 1912, Titanic struck an iceberg. Actually, a whole lot better than that, bigger than that one. But there we are. That's the best picture I could get. It struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. One and a half thousand people perished in the cold seas. Why? Well, for sure they hit an iceberg. But that wasn't the greatest catastrophe. The catastrophe wasn't the fact that the accident happened. The catastrophe was. No one was ready for the accident to happen. There were too few lifeboats. The crew were poorly trained. There was no preparedness for the passengers. They hadn't had their lifeboat drill and they're putting on your life jackets. And where their muster station was, everyone was slow to react. And those who were responsible, quite frankly, were also poor in their actions. The question I want us to look at this morning, following on in our wander through acts series, as we come. [00:04:41] Speaker B: To acts, chapter twelve. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Is this. Am I prepared for crisis? Am I ready for the icebergs of life? Now, those of us that have lived life long enough will know that icebergs come along, not the literal ones. Has anyone ever encountered an iceberg in life? Yeah. Bang, there it was. Wasn't expecting it. Straight into it. Bang. They happen. So I want us to ask ourselves the question this morning. Am I ready? But I also want to ask a bigger question. Is this church ready? Because a church that's not ready for icebergs isn't ready for anything, because we want God to bless us, don't we? And he does. But I've lived life long enough to know that icebergs come out of the darkness and whack. So let's move back a little bit further in history to around ad 43. Ad 44, there's another great creation that was around then. It had been launched about twelve years prior to it. It was called the church King Herod Agrippa. I was ruling the nation at this point in time, and he was part of a family dynasty. It was the Herod dynasty. His grandfather, Herod, was the ruler at Jesus'birth. His uncle, Herod Antipas, was the ruler at Jesus'crucifixion. And now here was Herod Agrippa ruling in the early days of the church. Every single one of those Herods was a political king. What do I mean by a political king? Well, they were, yes, inverted commas ruling the nation. But they were only ruling under the authority of Rome. And every single decision that they made was a political decision. What do I mean by a political decision? It was all about making as much money as possible, keeping as many people squashed as possible, making yourself look as great as possible. And it doesn't matter what happens to the common people while all of that happens. And so here we have Herod Agrippa. And he was a political king. He was all about pleasing the people, but he wasn't interested in pleasing the ordinary people. He was only interested in pleasing people who, like him, had power, because it was all about power. And so the people that Herod Agrippa wanted to please were the ruling classes in society. Who were the ruling classes in AD 43? They were the religious leaders of the nation. So this was politics at its worst. And we read in the beginning of acts, chapter twelve, we'll turn to the. [00:08:16] Speaker B: Scriptures in a minute. [00:08:16] Speaker A: We'll read some more of it together. But we read that he'd already executed James, one of the twelve. This was the brother of John. He was one of the know the three inner circle. In the disciples, there was Peter, James and John. Well, this is the James that had been executed. And it was unceremonious. We don't know very much about his death, other than the fact he was killed by a sword. And now Herod Agrippa was moving on to his next political springboard. How could he rise in the thinking of the religious elite in the country? Easy. Let's get the next leader. And so he decided it was Peter's turn. He was out to please the crowd. And there was quite a crowd, because the time that we read in just a few moments is the time of the Passover. Passover, one of the major jewish celebrations. Now, Passover wasn't just a let's have a nice time in our house celebration. Passover was, if possible, as a believer, jewish believer, I need to be in the city of Jerusalem. I need to be in the holy city. And so there were jews there from all over, obviously, all over Israel. But they were there from all over North Africa, they were there from Asia Minor, and they were there from the reaches of Europe as well. And if you wanted to make maximum impact, this was the time and the place. So let's read that. If you've got a bible, turn your phone on. For those who are old fashioned, find the index and we'll read just a little bit of acts, chapter twelve. When he saw this, met with the approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the festival of unleavened bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison. But the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and sentries, stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals. Peter did. So wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out of prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing. What the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. They passed. The first and second guards came to an iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them by itself. They went through it. And when they walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left them. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Hera's clutches. From everything the jewish people were hoping would happen. When this dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to the answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was overjoyed. She ran back without opening it and exclaimed, peter's at the door. You're out of them. Your mind, they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said it must be his angel. But Peter kept on knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet. And described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this, he said. And then he left for another place in the morning. There was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross examined the guards and ordered they be executed. Well, there's an ending, a last verse. You never find that one in your Bible promise box, do you, about executions and stuff? I wonder what you make of that really miraculous story. It's amazing, isn't it, if you think about it, it's a story of impossibility. It's a story of, I suppose, great faith. But it's a story that I want to deal with this morning, because this was the dietary great big iceberg that SS Church had just sailed into in 80, 43. Our muster Stations on the Britannia were related to the specific lifeboats for that muster station. So I want to invite you this morning to listen carefully to the instructions of this crew member. I'd like you to listen to the instructions that will maybe save your life. I want you to listen to instructions that actually you need to understand and have digested before the iceberg ever hits. It's not the sort of message I don't think I've ever preached before, because I've preached often about how God can be with us and we can be victorious over everything. But this morning, I really feel I need to warn the church, to warn you as individuals, there's some really big icebergs up ahead, and you, as individuals, and we as a church, need to be ready before we hit the iceberg. And I'm not talking about missing the iceberg. I'm talking about hitting the iceberg. Lifeboat number one prayer. It's been said that prayer is a muscle. The more you do it, the stronger you get at it. Developing our prayer lives is very similar to developing muscular strength. I know when you look at this highly honed and toned body in front of you now, it's hard to imagine that this was, once upon a time, a really fit guy who used to teach physical education. I know that's a long stretch in the imagination now, but it's true. Once upon a time, I could run miles and miles and miles. Now I can't run. Anyone else know that? Yeah. Who's going to admit they've never run? Yeah. That's better. I used to be able to run miles, and I used to run marathons for fun, and now I don't even have fun. Any athlete, any sports person knows that you don't win on the pitch by being good on the pitch. You win on the pitch because of the weeks, months, years of investment that you have put into your physical well being and into your team's well being before you ever get onto the pitch. [00:16:38] Speaker B: Prayer is exactly like that. [00:16:43] Speaker A: Now, I know it's not true for anyone sat in this room. So I'm talking about people that are outside of this room, obviously, but there are some people who don't pray. I'll just let that one sink until they hit the iceberg. And then everyone prays. But I wonder what would happen if we had practiced prayer before hitting the iceberg. Would our attitude, our thinking, would our reaction? Would the outcomes be different? As we use our prayer muscles and practice with them, we get better expressing our heart to God. Our ears become more fine tuned to hearing what God is saying. Our spirits acclimatized to sense when the Holy Spirit is leading us. Like a body craving for the endorphins of exercise that grow with the habit of working out, our body craves this connection that we need to have with God. The more we pray, the more we realize there is to pray about. The more we pray, the more we realize God is saying to us. The more we pray, the more. [00:18:33] Speaker B: Hello, I'm back. You see, that's a PA department that were on the ball. It was like greyhounds out of a trap there. They were ready for the iceberg. The more we pray. Strange this, not only the more we want to pray, but the greater benefit for us and others we see in our praying. But can I say, church, it's too late to start to learn to pray once you've hit the iceberg. I'm not saying praying once you've hit the iceberg isn't something we should do, but how much better if you'd have been prepared beforehand? Different outcomes because of preparedness. [00:19:30] Speaker A: One of the ways we can make. [00:19:32] Speaker B: Small steps in growing in prayer is to make an appointment to pray personally and collectively. Set yourself time and discipline. Stick with it. Build the prayer muscle. Get into a routine. Or to quote our beloved leader, we need to get into a rhythm. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, you're right. We do. We need a rhythm of prayer. What's a rhythm of prayer? Well, a rhythm of prayer is actually. It just feels like it's in the cadence of life. It's just natural. As we go along, we pray. As we pray, we go along. We're speaking with God, he's speaking with us, we're hearing from him. We need to stick with it. We need to build prayer muscle. So we have this juvenile church in Jerusalem. It's about twelve years old, so it's not come a long way as a church, but it's certainly come quite some distance since it was born in that very city. But they've already learned how to pray. How do I know that? Because that chapter tells me they had, they knew where to gather. The fact that Dr. Luke records in his record of the Axe of the apostles that their prayers were says earnest, means they weren't in the kindergarten of prayer. They weren't just learning how to do it. This wasn't a knee jerk reaction to pray. They'd been taught and really knew how to pray. They'd also learned another important facet of prayer because it says they persisted in it all the time Peter was in jail, they prayed. Now, I'm not being cynical when I say this, but it's a human reaction. I think I'd have been praying as well whether I'd practiced prayer or not, quite frankly. Because if it can happen to Peter, it could also happen to me. And we need to be praying about our preparedness for what might hit us. And this isn't supposed to be a preach about doom and gloom for the future of the church. But sometimes we do need a wake up call in the church, a time to stir us into action, not because we're at a crisis now, but believe me, having been around church for a long, long time, as many of you have, crises hit every believer and every church. Always do. They always have. Why? Because we're dealing with imperfect people with complex situations. And can I say this slightly carefully? We're also living in days where there are political movements that do not like the church and there are political movements that would say you're just one little group amongst a lot of other faith groups. Stay in your place, enjoy your religious time together, but don't come out of it. Are we hearing that message? I think at times we are. Are we ready as a church? Because for a long time we've had it quite good in our nation. We've had spiritual freedoms. And I see some of those being curtailed. I see some of those being, keep back there, you can do your thing, but don't come out of your box to influence over here, which is their political viewpoint. But it's not the gospel viewpoint because the gospel viewpoint is we have a message for the whole world all the time and it is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I don't know whether you saw it. It was out on social media just a couple of weeks ago. And again, I say this carefully. [00:24:00] Speaker A: But. [00:24:00] Speaker B: There'S one particular branch of the christian church within our nation recently that has made cautious statements about using the term husband and wife anymore as though they are offensive terms to use why it's political. Well, the Bible doesn't call me my wife's partner calls me her husband and she is my wife. Why do I make that point? Because once you start down the thin end of the wedge, the wedge gets wider. We've got to stand for truth. And part of standing for truth is being prepared. So are we building the prayer muscle. The lifeboat number two that we come to on this ship is faith. You see, just as we need to exercise our physical muscles to remain healthy and strong, so we also need to exercise our faith muscles. Having weak and flabby faith in times of distress can lead to all sorts of things that aren't very healthy for us or for other people. Verse five of acts, chapter twelve, it says they were earnestly praying. This was faith being used in prayer. Jesus had taught his disciples the need for faith. He'd done this using the circumstances of life. Those of you who have been following through the Bible reading plan would have even seen from this morning's reading that this illustration was true. There was a storm. Jesus came walking on the water towards the disciples. And eventually Peter has his go at walking on the water himself. And then Jesus calms that storm. You see, sometimes we can say, God, would you keep the storms away from me? But I've learned through the years that actually I learn more in the storm than avoiding the storm. And some of you may well be going through a stormy moment in your life. You might well be facing some of the adverse circumstances of life. Faith, belief, family, finances, all of that stuff is the icebergs that we try to avoid. But sometimes we just hit straight into them. When we're in those stormy moments, when we're in those trials, it's very easy to say, oh, the devil's put that in the way. But actually, Jesus put this storm in the way. Jesus was in the storm, as the disciples were in the storm. And sometimes he allows the stormy things of life to do something that the quiet moments of life can't. Build muscle, build strength, build faith. And sometimes, despite the fact that it's really uncomfortable, God's left me in some storms. He's left me in family storms, he's left me in broken relationship storms. Why? Because God hates me? No, because he wants me to build muscle. Muscle of faith, muscle of trust. But like the account that I read this morning in the gospel, he always leads us to calm water. The storm's not forever, but I've learned more in the storm than usually I've learnt sat by the quiet lakeside. Full maturity or calm water is knowing that we need God and that he'll be there every moment, good or bad. Faith is trust in God. Faith is knowing that he has the best for your life in his heart. But sometimes we need to learn how to trust him. And perhaps the storm is a good place again in the Bible reading this morning. Those who are following through, we've been reading the story, the account, bible account of Joseph. What a stormy life that guy went through. Hated by his brothers, thrown away, hated by his owner as a slave, thrown away back into prison. Hated by the prisoners, back into prison. And you think, well, he's been abandoned by God. But Joseph never felt that. And if you see Joseph's life, he rose on every occasion. Didn't matter what storm it was, he rose on every occasion. His character came to the point where his character had been so developed, which we'll go on to read in that Bible account that he gets taken from the dungeon to the palace. He gets taken from nothing to ruling. Allow God to start building faith in your life. It's too late, once you hit the iceberg to say, God, can you give me some faith? Well, maybe that's a step too far in what I've said, but how much better that we'd hit the iceberg knowing faith will bring us through? Lifeboat number three on this ship of life is obedience. The angel appeared to Peter in his cell and told him what to do. Peter couldn't work out what was happening or why his obedient actions would lead to freedom. In fact, Peter couldn't even trust his own feelings or his own sight or his own experience right at that time because he thought what he was experiencing was a dream, was a vision. It wasn't real after all. Unless I'm wrong, I suspect there are very few of us have been in a prison cell where angel has appeared, taken the chains off our hands, led us through locked doors into open spaces. Anyone been there? No. Me either. Makes a great story, though, doesn't it? That's why we tell that story to kids. Unfortunately, we should be telling it to each other because we need to know that in the locked up situations of life, in the impossible to move situations, in the we cannot see a way out of it situations, we need to adopt the attitude that Peter took here. It simply said he did what the angel told him. Now, I don't know about you, but I am an expert at arguing with God. I really am. I can reason with God quite often. Why do you want me to do. I don't think that's a good idea. God? Honestly, if I were God, I wouldn't be doing that. I wouldn't be suggesting that to me. I can argue with God. Why? Because my mind goes ahead and it thinks, what are the consequences if I do what God tells me to do? Now, I know I'm unique in that Peter, it says, obeyed the angel. Building the spiritual muscle of obedience through slow and thoughtful living in a culture of relentless busyness is challenging. But when we repeatedly just talk about two things, grace and mercy in our lives, we miss the third really important one, because we can be people of grace and mercy, can't we? Oh, it's all about God's grace. It's all about God's mercy. Yes, it is. But there's a third step that needs to be in every Christian's life. Obedience. Do what he tells you to do when he tells you to do it. There's a verse in one, Samuel 15. It says, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. You see, it can be very spiritual sounding to say, oh, it's all by grace. Well, there's a truth in that. But grace without obedience, quite frankly, is foolishness. We need to be doing what God tells us to. Billy Bray, anyone ever heard of him, he was one or two Cornish amongst us would know Billy Bray was a Cornishman. And he got converted. But hallelujah, he got converted in Devon in the early 19th century. This former drunkard had turned back to God and moved to Devon, met Jesus, was soundly converted, and Billy Bray went on to become a preacher with, I. [00:33:55] Speaker A: Don'T know whether it exists anymore, but. [00:33:57] Speaker B: They were called the Bible Christians in Corma. This was a group of christians that decided they were going to actually believe God's word and act on it. And it said of Billy Bray, when he became quite a prolific preacher, that his shoes were called faith and obedience. And the reason his shoes were called faith and obedience was because Billy Bray said, with only faith, you'll hop. With only obedience, you'll hop. But with faith and obedience, faith and obedience, you can go wherever God wants you to go. And Billy McBray was, as I say, a prolific preacher. Led loads and loads of people to the Lord. I want to tell you that obedience is never an accident. Obedience is always a choice. Am I going to do what God wants me to do? Peter chose to obey this angelic messenger, and we need to exercise that spiritual muscle if we're going to survive the icebergs of life. Two more to go. Won't take long. Anyone bored, you can always leave. Lifeboat number four. Persistence. [00:35:29] Speaker A: It says. [00:35:29] Speaker B: At Mary's home, many were gathering verse twelve all the time he was in prison. Verse six. So there were many gathering all the time he was in prison. And this is the fourth lifeboat we need in place, working in our lives before the life before the iceberg appears, jesus told us to ask. And actually it's written in the greek present continuous tense. So Jesus didn't just say ask, he said, ask, and keep on asking. Knock. Keep on knocking. Seek and keep on seeking. You see, persistence is being immovable in character, in our words, in our actions, despite the opposition, until the desired results are achieved. In other words, persistence is tenacity. There are some very impolite phrases that I could use to describe persistence, and if you're thinking about them, your mind needs as redeeming as mine. But actually, there's a sense in which we need that dogged. I am not going to give up tenacity in our lives. And while I was preparing this, I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, roger, you're not just going to be preaching this as teaching into the church. You're going to be speaking this to people that need to put this into action in their lives today. Because some of you are thinking about giving up on a situation. Some of you are thinking about backing out of it because it's not worth the hassle or the effort. God is saying, you have got to set your face and go through the situation. You've got to look it eyeball to eyeball and continue to walk through this situation. There's got to be a persistence, a tenacity about our lives. Ephesians six, verse 13 says, and having done all to stand, having done everything else, we're standing. And these early christians were not quitting. The situation was going on. The situation was difficult. The situation was impossible. But they were there in John Mark's mum's living room, and they were knocking on heaven's door, and they were not going to give up. And some of you are on the point of giving up. And God says, don't. Don't give up. Knock, keep on knocking. Seek, keep on seeking. Ask, keep on asking. And the final lifeboat this morning, common sense. Not often preached on as being a gift of the Holy Spirit. But I want to preach on common sense as a gift of the Holy Spirit this morning. No, you won't find it in the list. The final lifeboat I see in action is in this amazing account of divine deliverance in the face of this political power, this military might was common sense. You see, the church had prayed. The faith of the saints was high. Peter had obeyed the God's messenger. The Christians had tenacity. They weren't giving up. Then came the decision. You'll find it in acts, chapter twelve and verse 17. And the only way I can describe the decision was, it was common sense. Peter decided he was going somewhere else. Is that or is that not common sense? His life was in danger. He was going to be banged up again in prison. The Christians round and about him were not going to be able to protect him. The military might, the political might was too strong. And so Peter simply decided, I'm going somewhere else. Sometimes we've just got to make some very practical choices in our lives. And quite frankly, it annoys me sometimes when christians say, I'll go away and pray about it. And by that, I don't mean don't go away and pray about it. But I've heard that phrase used too many times for let's avoid making a decision, I'll go away and pray about it. That means you're not going to decide, because God has given to us common sense. Here's the circumstances. Here's me, here's what's going on. What's going to be the best thing to do? Well, actually, the best thing to do is not stay here. I'm going over there. Why? Because that's a decision that's going to keep me safe and other people safe. So I want to advise those of you that I have felt God, say, are facing some of those challenging situations, make a decision and do something. You see, it wasn't sensible for Peter to stick around. Sometimes the wisest thing is to get out of it. I don't read that he fasted. I don't read that he prayed. I don't read that he went to consult the other apostles. I don't see him doing a four week Bible study on what to do when you've just been banged up in prison. I see Peter saying, I'm going somewhere else. Common sense is good sense. It's sound judgment. In practical matters, it's the wisdom of years. It's the application of what we already know. So there we have it. Five lifeboats. If they're not in place in the SS church, if they're not in place in the SS my life, you've got a problem the moment you hit an iceberg, because you've got no lifeboats that you can depend on. I want to encourage you this morning not to become people of prayer. Faith, obedience, persistence and common sense. When the iceberg is in sight, be people of prayer. Faith, obedience, persistence and common sense a long time before the iceberg ever floats across the boughs of your ship. I'm going to be ending in a minute and praying, and I particularly want to pray for those of you that are already in difficult situations, or those of you that know that you're going to be hitting some difficult situations. But before I get to that, I've made an assumption that everyone here knows what I'm talking about. And it might well be that some of you have no idea what I'm talking about because you don't actually have a relationship with Jesus anyway. You might be interested in him. You might want to hear about him. You might have enjoyed being amongst his people, but you don't know him personally. The apostle Paul, when he was already in a difficult situation, said this. I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Do you know who you believe? Dr. Luke wrote in acts 16, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. How, we ask? Well, listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Perhaps this morning would be a really good time to make a decision, to say, I'm going to follow him, have him in my life. Let's pray together. And so, Lord, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your fantastic word, the Bible. Thank you, Lord, that it's a record not just of events and people situations, but it's a living thing that can speak into my life today. Lord, I pray for those who need to know you, that today they will decide to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be saved. But, Lord, I also want to pray specifically for those in this hall today, those that are watching online, that know there's a really difficult situation ahead of them. Lord, would you build up muscle in their lives in prayer, in faith, in obedience, in persistence, and in common sense? Would you help them to see that you've made a way, go through the storm and to come to victory? The other side. In Jesus name am.